2️⃣ But violence was brewing...

There was an ongoing power struggle between two factions: the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire.

Bologna became a city of noble families (of opposing factions) vying for status and power — often violently.

So families needed defensive structures, but without the space to build castles, they built upwards.

And towers became popular because the taller you built, the greater the status you earned. The wealthy of Bologna got into a contest of who could build highest.

It wasn't just Bologna. San Gimignano retains its impressive skyline, and surviving towers are dotted around Italy's other medieval cities.

But Bologna had the most impressive, most dense, cityscape of all. These images we have are from a model built by a researcher over a century ago, who claimed there were as many as 194 towers at its peak.

What happened to Bologna's skyline?

Via: culture critic

@unityarch

Glass blocks in interiors.😍😍

@unityarch